News, information and analysis from the black left.

Obama and GOP Speak Same Language: Corporate Tax Cuts = Jobs

Submitted by Glen Ford on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 00:38

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

President Obama, like his Republican colleagues, says the word “jobs” when he really means “corporate tax cuts.” He lectured in the same Corp-Speak in Chattanooga, where he told low-wage workers how wonderful their bosses are, and what economic miracles could be accomplished by lavishing corporations with “incentives” to do the right thing.

Obama and GOP Speak Same Language: Corp Tax Cuts = Jobs

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

“There is no jobs creation plan, only a series of corporate tax giveaway programs.”

President Obama went to a low wage warehouse in Chattanooga in the right-to-work state of Tennessee to renew his offer to massively lower corporate tax rates – from 35 to 28 percent – and had the nerve to call it a Grand Bargain for the middle class. Surrounding the president were employees who do backbreaking work for $11 or $12 an hour – and can by no stretch of imagination be considered middle class. Obama praised their cutthroat Amazon corporation bosses as the sort of benign masters that he’s depending on to bring the country back to economic health – once they’ve been properly incentivized with lower tax rates, on the one hand, and outright public subsidies, on the other. Amazon is only invested in Tennessee because the state has given the corporation huge tax breaks that will allow it to undercut other book sellers, forcing them out of business and their workers into unemployment. Amazon’s 7,000 new, low wage jobs come at the cost of lay-offs and bankruptcies among its competitors. It’s the Wal-Mart business model, which is quite popular at the White House.

The Obamas have a special place in their hearts for corporations of all kinds, as long as they’re big. The president told the Amazon warehouse workers, whose jobs are not very good, that he wants to create good jobs in other industries through renewable energy and electric cars and cheap natural gas – that is, “fracking.” Of course, by that he means providing additional government subsidies and tax breaks to corporations. Good jobs, presumably, will trickle down. Obama urged Congress to pass his Fix-It-First program to rebuild bridges and other public infrastructure, while blaming the Republicans for gutting government through “sequester” of spending. But it was Obama who proposed the sequestration disaster in the first place, as part of his earlier Grand Bargain with the GOP, in 2011.

“Good jobs, presumably, will trickle down.”

Obama used the Chattanooga visit to re-pitch much of his last State of the Union Address, in which he pledged to work for a public private partnership to upgrade the privately-owned U.S. infrastructure, such as energy grids and ports. That’s a euphemism for spending billions in public monies to subsidize private, profit making corporations. Obama calls that a jobs program.

He also thinks workers should be appreciative of the Free Trade deals whose proliferation has coincided with the destruction of the U.S. manufacturing base and the loss of millions of jobs that really were “good.” Obama promised to call a meeting of the CEOs of the same corporations that sent the jobs overseas, to ask them to do more for the country – as if they haven’t done enough, already. He’s got another program, called Select USA, that offers tax breaks and other incentives to foreign corporations that locate facilities in the U.S. Since so many U.S. headquartered high-tech corporations, like Apple, are actually Chinese companies for purposes of employment, Obama might as well combine his various tax break programs and hand out the goodies to CEOs regardless of nationality. In fact, that’s close to the actual practice. There is no jobs creation plan, only a series of corporate tax giveaway programs.

For workers, there’s the minimum wage, now set at $7.25 an hour. Obama promised, once again, in Chattanooga, to try to raise that to $9.00. But, back in 2008, candidate Obama vowed to fight for $9.50. I guess, somewhere along the way, he lost his incentive. For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

10 Comments

Thanks Glen, I couldn't believe what I heard from the president yesterday. I don't know if the president, that appears to be fully engaged in campaign mode, is aware of the fact that a Lame Duck President can't run for office again. One can only surmise that he is feathering his nest for post Washington retirement by carrying water for the economic elite who financed his past campaigns and now have full control of the direction taken by the Democrat Party.

Consuner advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader has previously made the point that the Minimum Wage in this country should be at $10.50 an hour based on the 1968 Minimum Wage adjusted for inflation over the years. He has also pointed out that many economist have said that the current work force continues to work at a very high level of productivity which should also justify raising the wages of average Americans.

What I truly find amazing is that most White Democrats are totally oblivious to this complete rejection of what the Democrat Party has historically fought to accomplish for all Americans, not just the wealthy oligarchy !

If he gets wind that true liberals are opposing what he proposes, he simply makes a statement like yesterday. He said we should quit believing everything that the Huffington Post publishes, as if that is the only place we look for real reporting! I am a white man of 54 years of age, and Black Agenda Report actually gets some real reporting done whereas most mainstream sources are just skimming the "news" off the top so as not to upset those in power. I have agreed with 98% of what BAR has reported in the past year since I have learned of them. I appreciate Brother Ford and his staff for having the integrity of true journalists when it comes to reporting the Facts! Keep up the good work, and I will keep trying to spread the word of your excellent work. Peace!

is just about morphing into simply the working class/non-wealthy agenda, with the glaring exception of criminal justice/ policing of neighborhoods issues, and even that distinction is getting fuzzier. Not to say there aren't perfectly legitimate distinctly black american issues. But, being a white mutt myself, i come here for the journalism. The stories matter to me, whatever the specific topic. And personally I'm seeking a way to make other white people understand white privilege and institutional racism. Some- okay a lot- of people don't get it. It's the, "hey, it's 'Murka, land of the free, anybody can do anything they like and be anything they want" kind of thinking that i wish i could counter with one sentence. But cognitive dissonance is a tough thing to overcome, especially when its been drilled in to peoples' heads since kindergarten. I'm lucky to have had parents that encouraged free thinking, and at least some measure of experience with racism living in Hawaii. Not to say i know what it's like to be black, or all Hawaiians are racist, it was just a few isolated incidents that opened my eyes up a bit. Anyways i ramble, just wanted to say hey, good job, keep up the good work, aloha nui loa, and keep exposing Obamalamadingdong for the lying war-mongering Wall St loving 1%er wolf in sheep's clothing he is. Tragic.

The owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Andrew Adler, who suggested Israel should assassinate U.S. President Barack Obama, has resigned from his post, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on Monday.

Adler, who has since apologized for his article, listed three options for Israel to counter Iran’s nuclear weapons in an article published in his newspaper last Friday. The first is to launch a pre-emptive strike against Hamas and Hezbollah, the second is to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and the third is to “give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place and forcefully dictate that the United States’ policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies.”

Adler goes on to write: “Yes, you read “three correctly.” Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel’s existence. Think about it. If have thought of this Tom-Clancy-type scenario, don’t you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel’s most inner circles?"

According to JTA's report, Adler announced Monday that he is “relinquishing all day-to-day activities effective immediately,” and that he named John McCurdy as interim managing editor."

I have read this article and Mr.Obama's thinking is really appreciable. His thought to create good job opportunities through renewable energies, electric cars and cheap natural gas is a quite good idea. As job requirement is increasing day by day it will help to cope with this. Electric cars are the environment friendly cars most of us know and with this how Mr.Obama creates job opportunities is ought to see. Also, as electric cars say that they are environment friendly cars there are some issues in it like during the energy generation process of this vehicle the amount of CO2 gas gets out is comparably high from that gets out from a normal vehicle. So, outr car nmakers have to work hard to fix this bug. There are several bugs may appear in our car and we have to stay alert for them. When we notice any bug it is firsat work toi get it repaired from a good repair center like I prefer to go for the best Audi Service Chicago center for my Audi when I feel there is any bug inside my car.

Black Agenda Report's graphic images are interactivity are back...

Of course we never left. But all our graphical images did, and our interactivity, the ability of users to comment on pages and even to join our free email subscription list. The images are back, and comments are back as well for users who take the time to register themselves. We promise to police our comments section too, so that your insights are not buried in spam.

The Real News Network presents the Glen Ford Report

Glen Ford explains that the shooting of police officers in Ferguson MO is NOT s setback for the movement.

Why you should comment on our articles here instead of Facebook

Facebook & Twitter are like rivers. If you're not standing by the bank when something floats by, it's gone. Good luck finding that brilliant conversation you had with somebody in a FB thread 2 or 3 weeks ago. People who "follow," "like," and "friend" you on FB may rarely or never see your posts, especially if they're answering someone else's, and those lacking that tenuous relationship are even less likely to see them.

So like and follow us on FB and Twitter, but when you post your comments on our articles here, anyone who finds the article finds the comment, now or a decade from now.

That's because Facebook respects your carefully thought out comment exactly as much as an emoticon or an LOL or STFU, LMFBAO, and needs to make room for the next one. Mark Zuckerberg doesn't respect you. We do. For lots more on how that works, listen to Jodi Dean below. And if you haven't already, register, login and comment on our articles. Comments are usually open for 30 days after an article is published.